Are all bright stars part of the milky way?

[Slimstar]

Maybe a dumb question but are all the bright stars we see at night (Sirius, Vega, Altair and the lot) part of the milky way? 

And is it even possible to see the milky way in light polluted area?

[acey]

Yes, all the stars we see (Sun included) are in our Milky Way. And in a light polluted area those bright resolvable stars are just about all we can see of our galaxy. If you can see stars to about mag 5.5 then the unresolved haze of the Milky Way should be visible.

Slightly brighter than the Milky Way is M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, visible if stars can be seen to about 5 mag. This is beyond our Milky Way - a separate galaxy. The light we see comes from its stars, but we can't resolve them individually, even by looking through a telescope.

Under most circumstances M31 is the most distant object visible with the naked eye. But if stars fainter than about 6.5 can be seen then another galaxy, M33, may be visible. Southern hemisphere viewers can see the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, dwarf galaxies which again appear as an unresolved haze to the eye. These are much closer (and larger in the sky) than M31. They are companions of our own Galaxy.

The Milky Way is a rather flat disc, which is why we see it as a band in the sky. Whereas the closest stars are all around us, so fill the whole sky.

[callump]

Yes, all the stars you can see with the unaided eye at night are part of the milky way.

Funnily enough, there are just a bit over 9100 stars visible from earth (mag 6.5 or brighter) - you would probably think it's a lot more...

It will depend on the amount of light pollution whether you can see the milky way from urban locations. But if you have a transparent sky, and block out any direct lights, you could probably see it.

Callum

[jnb]

To be pedantic, no they are not or yes they are depending on what you mean by the milky way.

All bright stars that we see are part of our galaxy. If you interpret the milky way as being our galaxy then yes all bright stars are part of the milky way. If by 'milky way' you mean the visible light marking the plane of the milky way then no they are not. So for example Deneb is a bright star that is in our galaxy and as we look at it we are looking into the plane of the galaxy so it is in the milky way by both definitions. On the other hand nearby Polaris is in our galaxy but as we look at it we are not looking in the direction of the plane of the galaxy so it lies outside of the brighterregion of sky that marks the milky way.

</pedant>

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Here's a nice image showing our location in the Milky Way (note that the overall shape is a bit of an educated guess, as we can't see all of it due to dust lanes blocking our view).

It's a disc shape with a central bulge, which is why it appears as a band across the sky. This is what a 360 degree view looks like, note that the band is thicker towards the centre of the galaxy.

Our view of the Milky Way changes throughout the year as the Earth moves in its orbit, we are looking out in a different directions at night. Here's an image I took a few weeks ago, it covers about one third of the distance from horizon to horizon:

If you look at the dust lanes they match up with those on the left hand side of the 360 degree image.

[Slimstar]

Thanks for the detailed explanation.

[greglloyd]

I wonder if there are solar systems out there where the planets are in such an orbital plane angle around their parent star compared with the plane of the galaxy that they get to see a different view than we do? Instead of edge on, they may see the galaxy from an angle if say, their solar system is out at the edge of an arm and the planet is at the maximum elongation from it's parent star. That could be an impressive view.

[greglloyd]

I guess at solar system scales it would always look edge on though. No solar system would be big enough to ever create enough angle relative to the size of the galaxy to ever see it anything other than edge on.

[Paul73]

Slimstar - I hope that you don't mind me expanding the question a little.

So if all of the bright stars that we can see are in our Galaxy. Are all stars in a galaxy or are there stars wandering alone in the intergalactic void?

Paul

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Intergalactic stars have been detected, they are thought to have been ejected by galaxy mergers or a close encounter with a supermassive black hole. They'd be a good place to observe galaxies from, without any dust to obscure the view.

[r3i]

So if all of the bright stars that we can see are in our Galaxy. Are all stars in a galaxy or are there stars wandering alone in the intergalactic void?

Yes there are intergalactic stars: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intergalactic_star

Edit: Knight just beat me to it - must type faster

[Paul73]

Thanks guys - that clears that one up!

Paul

[Qualia]

Great thread, this one. Most brilliant writing, extremely informative and ace pics to boot. Thank you everyone here for contributing. It's threads like this that make SGL such a privilege to be a fellow colleague

[Ruud]

Alpha Camelopardalis is the farthest constellational star (a star that is part of the stick figure of a constellation). Cartes du Ciel says it is 6523 light-years out. If you travelled to α Cam and looked back at the Sun, you'd notice that the other constellational stars are all huddled around the Sun in a flat disk. In the image below, we are far from those stars and can't see them directly, but the lines of the constellations show where they are.

Screenshot from Celestia (freeware space simulator). You can travel anywhere in the solar system and beyond.

This should cover all bright stars that we see in the sky. Most are in the plane of the galaxy, or quite close to it.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Here's a nice image showing our location in the Milky Way (note that the overall shape is a bit of an educated guess, as we can't see all of it due to dust lanes blocking our view).

It's a disc shape with a central bulge, which is why it appears as a band across the sky. This is what a 360 degree view looks like, note that the band is thicker towards the centre of the galaxy.

Our view of the Milky Way changes throughout the year as the Earth moves in its orbit, we are looking out in a different directions at night. Here's an image I took a few weeks ago, it covers about one third of the distance from horizon to horizon:

If you look at the dust lanes they match up with those on the left hand side of the 360 degree image.

They actually do. Ive never seen a post like this before which shows such a comparison. Thats pretty amazing.